DEBRA SEARLE
Debra Searle is a hugely popular motivational speaker and conference facilitator. She is entertaining, articulate, attractive, adaptable and totally inspirational.
After her oarsman husband developed an uncontrollable fear of the ocean, Debra continued alone and rowed 3000 miles across the Atlantic. It should have taken them 6 weeks but, to achieve her goal, Debra ended up spending 3 1/2 months at sea alone, often battled against 30’ waves and force 8 squalls in a 23’ plywood boat.
Debra’s overwhelming positivity and ‘go for it’ attitude are contagious, while her modesty is endearing. Often very emotive, she shares her highs and lows, personal battles and victories, to help illustrate in a very human way what we are all capable off. She is not a motivational speaker reliant on buzz words, hype and jargon.
Her main themes are how to stay motivated, being adaptable to change, overcoming obstacles, how to improve your team-working through encouraging one another and how to choose the right attitude, however impossible the end goal may seem.
Debra powerfully illustrates with slides and stunning video footage and leaves her audience in no doubt of their own ability to achieve the extraordinary both individually and collectively. She sets herself apart from other speakers by her level of commitment to each project.
Taking the time to ensure she fully understands the conference themes and gathering company and industry specific information allows her to tailor her presentation to your exact requirements.
Not just a woman with an interesting story, Debra Searle walks the talk as managing director of two companies and has a successful TV presenting career with the BBC.
Debra powerfully illustrates with slides and stunning video footage and leaves her audience in no doubt of their own ability to achieve the extraordinary.
In 2004, Debra was booked to speak to 5000 women at the PBWC Conference in San Francisco alongside other Keynote Goldie Hawn.
Debra commented, "I am so thrilled to be invited as a keynote to this all-female conference. Over the past year I have spoken at numerous all-female events - it is great to have the opportunity to inspire other women and to get a bit of inspiration myself. So many business women put in a huge number of hours in order to succeed. My aim is to encourage women in their work but also to explore themes such as how to be kind to yourself and how to burn people's negative perceptions as fuel for our ambitions."
Client Feedback: Marsh Ltd - Sales Conference held in Portugal, January 2004
"You have a very compelling story of sheer courage and determination and this was very well articulated, with compassion and humility. Your preparation and attention to detail helped you to provide us with additional resonance and relevance. You inspired our whole sales team (many of whom are happy to admit being close to tears) had considerable impact on me and the entire executive team in attendance. Sincere thanks for putting additional meaning into, as well as icing on a very special conference." Neil Irwin, Managing Director, Marsh Ltd.
Clients include:
AMP
Association of Convenience Stores Annual Conference
BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace)
Boots Healthcare International
British Marine Federation
BT
British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association
Business Link
Cancer Research UK
Cushman & Wakefield Healy & Baker
Duke of Edinburgh Award, St James' Palace
England Rugby Squad
Heywood Williams Group Plc
Initial
IBM Financial Services
IBM Consulting
Institute of Directors SE Region
Institute of Directors Kent
Lloyds TSB
Mars Inc.
Montgomery Watson Harza
Royal Bank of Scotland
SSL Medical
Stopgap Ltd
Sussex Enterprise Council
London Boat Show
National Grid Transco
Southampton Boat Show
Vodafone
Yorkshire International Business Convention
“She was Fantastic. We held a conference for 1400 business people with Mikhael Gorbachev, Rory
Bremner, Nick Leeson, Murray Walker, John Simpson and Debra Searle as the speakers, and the delegates voted Debra the best.”
Mike Firth, CE of the Yorkshire International Business Convention.
Debra Searle provided the key note speech for IBM's Financial Services International Conference in Edinburgh, receiving a standing ovation and rave reviews from all the delegates. IBM's Financial Services Client Director Deborah Evans reported:
"Debra’s presentation was perfectly aligned to our event objectives. Our theme was ‘The Drive to Win’ and Debra’s achievements could not have been more appropriate. Debra has the ‘human touch’ and connected well with everyone in the audience. She held the audience from start to finish and balanced humour with more serious messages. A few people admitted to having to hold back tears at certain points…”
Debra further delighted conference organisers when they processed the post-event evaluation forms and discovered that every single delegate had awarded Debra maximum marks.
“We provided feedback forms to all participants and asked for a rating between 1 (poor) and 5 (excellent).
Debra scored a ‘5’ from every single respondent. This is unheard of!" continued Deborah Evans.
Subsequently, Debra Searle has been rebooked to speak at IBM Consulting Conference this week in London and discussions are underway for Debra to speak at additional IBM events across Europe.